SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) -- Dozens of lawyers on Thursday jockeyed to take a lead position battling Toyota Motor Corp. in the hundreds of lawsuits involving its vehicles' sudden acceleration problems.

More than 70 lawyers were expected to try and dazzle U.S. District Judge James Selna with their expertise to head three committees that will oversee key components of the litigation.

At stake is potentially millions of dollars that a judge can appropriate for attorneys if a settlement or award is reached.

"The leadership you appoint here is going to dominate the case," said plaintiff's attorney Daniel Becnel of Louisiana.

More than 320 lawsuits have been filed in federal and state court against the Japanese automaker after it began recalling about 8 million vehicles because of acceleration problems in several models and brake glitches with the popular Prius hybrid.

Some of the lawsuits seek compensation for injury and death due to sudden acceleration, while others claim economic loss because the values of their vehicles plummeted after the recalls.

It's not the lawyers, it's the juries. No lawyer ever awarded a huge compensatory and punative judgement against a defendant. Juries do all the time. Often a defendant will settle for less than a loss would cost them in the hands of a jury.

Juries are composed of average citizens. Average citizens are voting in politicians that are bankrupting our country.